DCC Regulatory News (DCC)

6 November 2012

Interim Results for the Six Months ended 30 September 2012

DCC plc, the sales, marketing, distribution and business support services group, today announced its results for the six months ended 30 September 2012.

Ø Revenue increased to €6.1 billion (+32.5% on continuing activities and on a constant currency basis). Approximately 80% of this growth was driven by acquisitions, principally in DCC Energy.

Ø Operating profit increased to €62.4 million from €57.2 million in the prior year (+1.1% on continuing activities and on a constant currency basis).

Ø Operating cash flow increased to €79.3 million from €71.0 million in the prior year.

Ø The interim dividend was increased by 7.5% to 29.48 cent per share.

Ø Acquisition expenditure of €133 million committed in the first half will strengthen DCC's market positions, particularly in its LPG business with the deployment of circa €100 million in LPG acquisitions in Britain, Scandinavia and the Benelux region.

Ø The Group continues to anticipate that the year to 31 March 2013 will see strong growth in operating profit over the prior year.

Commenting on the results Tommy Breen, Chief Executive, said:

"Operating profit and adjusted earnings per share on continuing activities in the seasonally less significant first half were modestly ahead of budget and the prior year.

The Board has decided to pay an interim dividend of 29.48 cent per share, representing a 7.5% increase on the interim dividend paid in the prior year.

DCC remained very active on the development front with committed acquisition expenditure of €133 million in the first half of which approximately €100 million was committed in the expansion of its LPG distribution business with acquisitions in Britain, Scandinavia and the Benelux region.

As DCC enters its seasonally more significant second half, its full year guidance continues to be set against a weak economic environment and the important assumption that there will be a return to more normal winter temperatures compared to the extremely mild winter last year, which should give rise to a strong recovery in DCC Energy's operating profit.

Overall the Group reiterates the guidance previously provided for the year to 31 March 2013 that operating profit and adjusted earnings per share on continuing activities, both on a constant currency basis, will be approximately 15% ahead of the prior year. On a reported basis this would result in an approximate 20% increase in operating profit and in adjusted earnings per share compared to the prior year, assuming an exchange rate of Stg£0.805 = €1.

The Group remains very well placed to continue the development of its business in existing and new geographies."

For reference, please contact:

Tommy Breen, Chief Executive Tel: +353 1 2799 400

Fergal O'Dwyer, Chief Financial Officer Email:investorrelations@dcc.ie

Redmond McEvoy, Investor Relations Manager www.dcc.ie

Interim Management Report

For the six months ended 30 September 2012

Results

A summary of the results for the six months ended 30 September 2012 is as follows:

Revenue

Revenue increased to €6.1 billion (+32.5% on continuing activities and on a constant currency basis). Approximately 80% of this growth was driven by acquisitions, principally in DCC Energy.

DCC Energy's volumes increased by 36.0%, of which 2.9% was organic. Excluding DCC Energy, revenue in the rest of the Group increased by 9.6%, approximately three quarters of which was organic. This growth was primarily driven by DCC SerCom which achieved strong growth in both its IT and communications markets and its supply chain management activities. DCC Healthcare also achieved satisfactory organic revenue growth, principally in its pharma business.

Operating profit performance

Operating profit in the first half, from continuing activities and on a constant currency basis, was modestly ahead of budget and the prior year.

DCC Energy generated strong organic operating profit growth, on a constant currency basis, albeit against easier comparatives in the prior year when the weather in the first quarter was relatively mild. Whilst acquisitions completed in the prior year by DCC Energy in Britain contributed significantly to revenue, as anticipated they did not make any profit contribution in the first half of the current year. In particular, the former Total oil distribution business (acquired in October 2011) did not contribute to operating profit in the first half as DCC was not in a position to integrate the business into its existing oil distribution operations until clearance was received from the UK competition authorities.

DCC SerCom generated modest operating profit growth, with good growth in both IT and communications products and in its supply chain management business partially offset by a decline in the home entertainment products market. DCC Healthcare achieved satisfactory operating profit growth primarily driven by acquisitions while operating profit declined in DCC's two smaller divisions, DCC Environmental and DCC Food & Beverage.

Approximately 80% of the Group's operating profit in the period was denominated in sterling. The average exchange rate at which sterling profits were translated during the period was Stg£0.8055 = €1, compared to an average translation rate of Stg£0.8851 = €1 for the same period in the prior year, a strengthening of 9% which resulted in a positive translation impact on Group operating profit of €4.5 million. Consequently, on a reported basis operating profit from continuing activities increased by 9%.

Finance costs (net)

Net finance costs for the period increased to €9.0 million (2011: €8.3 million) primarily as a result of the higher average net debt during the period of €313 million compared to €170 million during the six months ended 30 September 2011. The increase in average net debt was primarily due to the cash outlay on acquisitions in the previous 12 months of €199 million and dividends of €65 million offset by strong free cash flow generation, after interest, tax and net exceptionals, of €142 million in the same period.

Profit before net exceptionals, amortisation of intangible assets and tax

Profit before net exceptionals, amortisation of intangible assets and tax from continuing activities of €53.4 million increased by 0.7% on a constant currency basis (an increase of 9.1% on a reported basis).

Net exceptional charge and amortisation of intangible assets

The Group incurred a net exceptional charge before tax of €6.4 million as follows:

Acquisition and related costs include the professional and tax costs (such as stamp duty) relating to the evaluation and completion of acquisitions. During the first half these costs amounted to €4.5 million and include the legal and other professional costs relating to the review and ultimate clearance by the Competition Commission of the acquisition of the former Total oil distribution business in Britain.

The charge for the amortisation of acquisition related intangible assets increased from €5.3 million to €8.7 million due to the acquisitions completed in the second half of the prior year.

Taxation

The effective tax rate for the Group in the first half decreased to 18% compared to 20% in the first half last year. The full year tax rate in the previous year was 18%.

Adjusted earnings per share

Adjusted earnings per share from continuing activities of 52.24 cent increased by 3.5% on a constant currency basis (an increase of 12.2% on a reported basis).

Interim dividend increase of 7.5%

The Board has decided to increase the interim dividend by 7.5% to 29.48 cent per share. This dividend will be paid on 30 November 2012 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 16 November 2012.

Cash flow

As with its operating profit, the Group's cash flow is weighted towards its second half. The cash flow generated by the Group and the deployment of cash on acquisitions and dividends to shareholders for the six months ended 30 September 2012 can be summarised as follows:

Operating cash flow of €79.3 million compares to €71.0 million in the corresponding period. Working capital remained tightly controlled with net working capital days at 30 September 2012 reducing to 3.3 days from 5.4 days at 30 September 2011, the decrease being primarily driven by a reduction in debtor days.

Acquisition and Capital Expenditure

In the six months ended 30 September 2012, committed acquisition and capital expenditure amounted to €166.0 million, as follows:

Committed acquisition expenditure in the first half amounted to €132.7 million as follows:

Acquisitions

DCC Energy

DCC Energy made significant strategic progress in expanding the scale and geographic presence of its LPG distribution business, committing circa €100 million to three acquisitions in Britain, Scandinavia and the Benelux region.

In August 2012, DCC Energy agreed to acquire BP's LPG distribution business in Britain. This business supplies a wide range of industrial, commercial and domestic customers with an annual volume of approximately 87,000 tonnes of bulk and cylinder LPG and is highly complementary to Flogas, DCC's existing LPG business in Britain (which has annual sales volumes of approximately 190,000 tonnes). This acquisition, which was previously announced on 8 August 2012 and completed on 28 September 2012 is currently operating under a hold separate arrangement pending a review by the Office of Fair Trading.

In September 2012, DCC Energy agreed to acquire BP's LPG distribution business in the Netherlands, together with the trade and assets of BP's smaller LPG distribution business in north Belgium ("Benegas"). Benegas is one of the leading suppliers of LPG in the Netherlands, selling approximately 55,000 tonnes per annum of bulk, cylinder and aerosol LPG to a broad range of industrial, commercial and domestic customers. This acquisition, DCC Energy's first in the Benelux region was previously announced on 21 September 2012 and completed on 31 October 2012.

Also in September 2012, DCC Energy agreed to acquire the trade, fixed assets, stock and goodwill of the industrial LPG business of Statoil Fuel & Retail ASA in Sweden and Norway ("SFR LPG"). SFR LPG is the leading distributor of bulk LPG to industrial and commercial customers in Sweden and Norway and sells approximately 260,000 tonnes of LPG per annum. This acquisition, together with DCC Energy's existing oil distribution businesses in Denmark and Sweden, significantly increases the scale of DCC Energy's activities in Scandinavia. This acquisition was previously announced on 4 September 2012. Competition approval for the transaction has been received from the Swedish and Norwegian authorities and the acquisition is expected to complete in late 2012/early 2013.

The acquisitions of Benegas and SFR LPG will extend DCC's LPG distribution business for the first time outside Britain and Ireland. These transactions follow acquisitions in recent years in oil distribution in Austria, Denmark and Sweden in pursuit of DCC Energy's vision to be the leading oil and LPG sales, marketing and distribution business in Europe.

DCC Energy also acquired two smaller businesses during the period. In April 2012 it acquired Medical Gas Solutions Limited, a supplier of oxygen and analgesic gas cylinders to ambulance trusts in Britain, an activity complementary to the LPG distribution business. This acquisition was previously reported in DCC's Preliminary Results announcement of 15 May 2012. In August 2012, as part of its continuing development of a presence in the alternative energy sector, DCC Energy acquired, for modest initial consideration, Clearpower Limited, a small business providing biomass solutions and boilers to commercial customers in Britain and Ireland.

DCC SerCom

DCC SerCom made two modest acquisitions in line with its strategy to expand its range of IT and communications products. In May 2012, as reported in DCC's Interim Management Statement on 20 July 2012, DCC SerCom acquired Go Telecom BV, a small Dutch business providing products and services in unified communications (including hardware, software and services for audio, video and telepresence conferencing). In September 2012, DCC SerCom acquired a small distributor of Apple products in Ireland.

DCC Healthcare

In June 2012, in line with DCC Healthcare's strategy to broaden the range of services it provides to brand owners in the health & beauty sector and to expand its European customer base, it acquired Vitamex Manufacturing AB (formerly Midsona Manufacturing AB) ("Vitamex"). Vitamex provides product development, registration, manufacturing and packing services to a range of leading Swedish and international consumer healthcare and health & beauty brand owners. This acquisition was previously announced on 29 June 2012.

The cash outflow on acquisitions in the six months to 30 September 2012 of €95.6 million includes only those acquisitions completed during the six months ended 30 September 2012 and deferred and contingent acquisition costs which had previously been provided for.

Capital expenditure

Net capital expenditure in the first half of €33.3 million (2011: €25.9 million) compares to a depreciation charge of €31.4 million (2011: €26.8 million).

Disposals

The disposal of DCC SerCom's Enterprise business, Altimate Group SA, was completed in June 2012 following competition clearance from the European Commission.

Financial Strength

DCC's financial position remains very strong. At 30 September 2012, the Group had net debt of €242.4 million and total equity of just over €1 billion. DCC has significant cash resources and undrawn committed long term debt facilities and its outstanding debt at 30 September 2012 had an average maturity of 4.5 years. Substantially all of the Group's debt has been raised in the US private placement market with an average credit margin of 1.23% over floating Euribor/Libor.

Outlook

As DCC enters its seasonally more significant second half, its full year guidance continues to be set against a weak economic environment and the important assumption that there will be a return to more normal winter temperatures compared to the extremely mild winter last year, which should give rise to a strong recovery in DCC Energy's operating profit.

Overall the Group reiterates the guidance previously provided for the year to 31 March 2013 that operating profit and adjusted earnings per share on continuing activities, both on a constant currency basis, will be approximately 15% ahead of the prior year. On a reported basis this would result in an approximate 20% increase in operating profit and in adjusted earnings per share compared to the prior year, assuming an exchange rate of Stg£0.805 = €1.

The Group remains very well placed to continue the development of its business in existing and new geographies.

Operating review

DCC Energy had a strong start to the year, with operating profit 14.8% ahead of the prior year on a constant currency basis. The business benefited from organic volume growth and the relatively cooler first quarter.

DCC Energy sold 4.4 billion litres of product during the period, an increase of 36.0% over the first half of the prior year, of which 2.9% was organic.

Volumes in the oil business grew organically by 2.7% over the prior year. The relatively cooler weather in the first quarter drove increased demand for heating products, however this was somewhat offset by the poor weather conditions over the summer months which impacted demand from the agricultural sector. The business also achieved strong growth in transport fuels through its fuel card business. Whilst acquisitions in Britain completed in the prior year contributed significantly to revenue, as anticipated they did not make any profit contribution in the first half of the current year. In particular, the former Total oil distribution business (acquired in October 2011) did not contribute to operating profit in the first half as DCC was not in a position to integrate the business into its existing oil distribution operations until clearance was received from the UK competition authorities.

In unconditionally clearing the Total acquisition, the Compeition Commission ("CC") concluded that the acquisition will not result in a substantial lessening of competition in the oil distribution market in Britain. The findings of the CC's report have provided greater clarity on the competitive conditions in the oil distribution market in Britain and provide a framework for DCC to consider when undertaking further acquisitions in this sector. As a result, DCC remains confident that it can pursue its objective of increasing its share of the oil distribution market in Britain to 20% over time.

The LPG business had an excellent first half, achieving strong organic volume growth reflecting both the cooler weather in the first quarter and good growth in the commercial sector of the market. The business also benefited from a more favourable product pricing environment.

During the first half, DCC Energy committed total expenditure of circa €100 million in the expansion of its LPG business through the acquisition of BP's businesses in Britain, the Netherlands and Belgium and the Statoil Fuel & Retail business in Scandinavia. These acquisitions significantly increase the scale and geographic scope of DCC Energy's LPG business in Europe. The BP LPG business in Britain is currently operating under a hold separate arrangement pending a review by the Office of Fair Trading of this acquisition.

As DCC Energy enters the seasonally more significant second half, it expects to achieve a strong recovery in operating profit for the year to 31 March 2013 over the prior year. This expectation is framed against the important assumption that there will be a return to more normal winter temperatures compared to the extremely mild winter last year.

DCC SerCom achieved operating profit growth from continuing activities of 4.0% on a constant currency basis reflecting strong growth in both its IT and communications markets and its supply chain management business partially offset by difficult trading conditions in the home entertainment market in the UK and Ireland.

In Britain and Ireland, the sales of PCs and tablets to the consumer and SME markets grew very strongly. The business also benefited from business development activities in its mobile communications business unit and is well placed to take advantage of the continuing convergence of the IT, consumer electronics and mobile markets. In the home entertainment market, sales of both games consoles and related software declined sharply reflecting the highly mature nature of the current games console product life cycle, underlying economic conditions and the decision of several software vendors to concentrate software releases closer to the Christmas period.

In France, weak consumer demand led to margin pressure, although the business was successful in growing its trade with e-tail customers and has expanded its offering of consumer electronics products.

Notwithstanding an anticipated continuation of challenging trading conditions in the home entertainment market, DCC SerCom is well placed to continue to develop its business on the back of the breadth of its supplier and customer relationships.

* On 3 April 2012, DCC announced that it had reached agreement to dispose of Altimate Group SA, DCC SerCom's Enterprise distribution business. This disposal was completed in June 2012.

DCC Healthcare achieved growth in operating profit of 6.4% on a constant currency basis with the benefit of development activity in the current year and prior year offsetting challenging market conditions, particularly in Ireland.

DCC Hospital Supplies & Services, which operates in medical devices, pharma and value added logistics, performed satisfactorily. In medical devices, Forth Medical Group, a distributor of neurology, orthopaedic and niche surgical devices in Britain which was acquired in February 2012, performed in line with expectations. In Ireland, the budgetary constraints within the public healthcare system have resulted in continued price pressure, especially in more commoditised medical/surgical product categories.

In pharma, excellent organic revenue and profit growth was achieved, particularly in the community pharmacy sector in Britain and Ireland, as DCC Healthcare continued to build on the platform created by the acquisition of Neolab's generic product licences in the prior year. The pharma business also made progress in the British hospital and Irish homecare sectors with new contract wins.

DCC Health & Beauty Solutions, which provides outsourced solutions to nutrition and beauty brand owners, generated strong profit growth. In nutrition, the strong performance was driven by good organic profit growth together with a first time contribution from Vitamex Manufacturing, a leading Swedish contract manufacturer of nutrition products which was acquired in June 2012. Operating profit in DCC's beauty operations improved, driven by growth with new customers and good cost control.

DCC Healthcare remains well placed for the year to 31 March 2013, which will have the full year benefit of recent development activity in pharma and medical devices.

DCC Environmental had a difficult first half, with operating profit 9.4% behind the prior year on a constant currency basis, as the business was impacted by a deterioration in the British waste management and recycling market.

Results in Britain were impacted by falling recyclate commodity prices and increased price competition. In Ireland, continued tight control of costs resulted in the business performing broadly in line with the prior year.

It is anticipated that market conditions in the waste management and recycling sector will remain difficult and DCC Environmental is responding by improving operational efficiencies throughout its business.

As anticipated, DCC Food & Beverage experienced a decline in revenue and operating profit due to the loss of a major contract in the frozen and chilled logistics business in the second half of the prior year and the ongoing weakness in consumer demand. While its company owned brands (including Robert Roberts, Kelkin, Goodall's and YR) performed well, a challenging trading environment with increased parallel and grey market sourcing by retailers further impacted the sales of some third party agency brands.

As previously indicated, DCC Food & Beverage anticipates a continuation of the difficult trading environment in the second half and a consequent decline in operating profit for the year to 31 March 2013.

This announcement contains some forward-looking statements that represent DCC's expectations for its business, based on current expectations about future events, which by their nature involve risks and uncertainties. DCC believes that its expectations and assumptions with respect to these forward-looking statements are reasonable; however because they involve risk and uncertainty, which are in some cases beyond DCC's control, actual results or performance may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

Principal Risks and Uncertainties

The Board is responsible for the Group's risk management systems, which are designed to identify, manage and mitigate potential material risks to the achievement of the Group's strategic and business objectives. Details of the principal strategic, operational, compliance and financial risks facing the Group are set out on pages 62 and 63 of the 2012 Annual Report. These risks continue to be the principal risks and uncertainties facing the Group for the remaining six months of the financial year.

Presentation of results and dial-in facility

There will be a presentation of these results to analysts and investors/fund managers in Dublin at 9.00 am today. The slides for this presentation can be downloaded from DCC's website, www.dcc.ie. A dial-in facility will be available for this meeting:

Ireland: 1800 946 811

UK: 0800 783 0906

International: +44 1296 480 100 / +353 1 242 1074

Passcode: 382 975

This announcement and further information on DCC is available at www.dcc.ie

Group Income Statement

Group Statement of Comprehensive Income

Group Balance Sheet

Group Statement of Changes in Equity

Group Cash Flow Statement